NV Kestrel

Command and route work.

1. 1-01 Bridge Fr 6–26 published The Way Out Closes — 'Ravn was at the bridge rail with the satchel strapped across her, already writing'

   Has a rail, and the route custodian works standing at it. The set carries Rahimi's voice down the run from here.

2. 1-02 Route table Fr 26–40 published The Way Out Closes through The Last Cache passim – Ravn's reader and her thirty years of margins

   Ravn's reader is the only instrument aboard that makes anything count. It is repeatedly the difference between a claim and a number.

The living ship. Divided at the frame — forward is the hull she was; aft is the conversion.

1. 2-01 Forward ranging board Fr 8–18 published The Way Out Closes — 'the after ranging board had been amber for ten days by then, and stayed amber'

   There are two boards, forward and after. The prose distinguishes them, which is why the sheet does.

2. 2-02 The galley Fr 30–46 published The Way Out Closes — 'The galley was forward of the frame on the port side, and it was lit, and it was loud'

   ⭐ The one compartment in the ship whose position is stated outright, on both axes. Everything else on this sheet is arranged around it. Its fan is audible from the passage.

3. 2-03 The mess Fr 30–46 published The Way Out Closes through The Last Cache passim — the keepers' sheet down on the mess table under the lamp; the heat pad that lived on a shelf

   Where paper gets spread out. A four-leaf sheet cornered down with two mugs is how this crew reads anything that matters.

4. 2-04 The locker run Fr 46–56 published The Way Out Closes — 'went past her at the frame with the connector in his fist and went into the locker run and opened his'

   Immediately forward of the frame. One locker to a hand, with a shelf inside and a door.

5. 2-05 The cross-passage Fr 56–62 published The Way Out Closes — 'Aft instead, then, through the cross-passage, and a moment at the door with the card on it'

   The athwartships link at the frame. Narrow enough that one person standing in it stops two men carrying plate.

6. 2-06 The cell Fr 62–78 published The Way Out Closes — 'went aft to the cell'; 'the cell door, which had a card taped to it where a plate should have been'

   ⭐ The embarked wound-and-route authority's own space, and the reason the ship exists. Immediately aft of the frame. Its door has never been plated — eight years and four books, and the card is still there.

7. 2-07 Master's cabin Fr 62–74 fixed spec ruling 2026-08-31

   ⚠ Not named in prose. A Master-commanded hull has one; where it sits is the drawing's.

8. 2-08 The after bay Fr 78–108 published The Way Out Closes — 'The after bay had four work lamps on a string down its length, and all the light in that end of the ship was'

   The conversion's working volume, and the ship's chronic fault. Its lighting went in the same package as everything else that did not arrive, so it is worked by four lamps on a string. Rahimi wanted it lit before they were off the wall; it was lit four minutes after it stopped mattering.

9. 2-09 After ranging board Fr 108–116 published The Way Out Closes — 'went straight past all of it to the after end of the bay, where the ranging board was, and stood at it with his back to the room'

   At the after end of the bay. Amber for ten days, and stayed amber.

The lander and the way off the ship.

1. 3-01 The lock Fr 22–34 published The Way Out Closes — 'gave the boat one look while its collar mated to the lock ring'; 'Through the lock the air was warm, and smelled of oil and, under the oil, bread'

   Collar-and-ring mating, with a face plate that wants grease. The smell through it is how the ship announces itself.

2. 3-02 The boat bay Fr 34–82 published The Way Out Closes — 'took them in through the boat bay doors at the half and Veski put the lander on her cradle a foot off the marks'

   ⭐ Doors, marks on the deck, and a cradle with a rail. Veski turns out the lander's intakes here between runs, covers off and upside down on the deck. There are marks to put her on and the prose notices when she is a foot off them.

3. 3-03 Second cradle Fr 82–100 published The Way Out Closes — 'came back with the paint and the lighting and the second cradle inside it, and one of the four had to go'

   ⚠ One of four items in a package, and one of the four had to go. The second cradle is the shape of the whole conversion: budgeted, itemised, and traded away against a cable.

4. 3-04 The boat-bay port Fr 34–42 published The Way Out Closes — 'Wells did the last two hours of the run in from the boat bay port, standing, with the case open on the lander's cradle rail'

   A viewing port at the bay. Work gets done standing at it because it is the only place with both a view and a rail to put a case on.

What she carries, and what she brings off.

1. 4-01 The hold Fr 30–96 published The Way Out Closes — 'The hold was dim in a way that was not dark — the lamps up in the beams were on'; 'the temperature of the hold, which he had off the glass by the door and did not trust'

   ⭐ Lamps up in the beams. A temperature glass by the door that the checker reads and does not trust, and reads again at the tenth hour. This is where a rescue stops being a plan and becomes a count of people.

2. 4-02 Hold brake position Fr 96–104 published The Way Out Closes — 'the one at the foot took the brake to the hold and did not set it, and stayed there with the lever in her grip and her eyes up'

   At the foot of the leg. A lever, held not set, is one of the book's recurring images.

Plant, and the fault the engineer can name exactly.

1. 5-01 Machinery space Fr 80–116 fixed spec ruling 2026-08-31

   ⚠ Never described as a room. Halloway works on the ship constantly and the prose stays with his hands, not his location.

2. 5-02 The connector, and the run behind it Fr 58–68 published The Way Out Closes — 'It's a connector or it's the run behind the connector. If it's the run it's under the new frame and I'm not opening the new frame at a wall'

   ⭐⭐ THE SHIP'S CENTRAL FAULT, AND IT IS ARCHITECTURAL. The suspect cable run passes UNDER the frame the conversion welded in — so reaching it means opening the new structure, which cannot be done at a wall. The engineer works it lying on a folded coat with his arm behind the connector plate, further in than the gap was cut for anybody to go.

3. 5-03 Heating plant Fr 68–80 published The Way Out Closes — 'the ship was cold from the frame aft, and Rahimi went past the galley saying she heats from the port aft, give her the hour'

   ⭐ She heats from the port aft, and she takes an hour to do it. The frame is a thermal boundary as well as a structural one: the second morning, the ship was cold from the frame aft.